


Shadow Weaver: "Parenting" and Power

by GettingGreyer



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Analysis, Canonical Child Abuse, Character Analysis, Gen, Meta, Parent-Child Relationship, Season/Series 02, Shadow Weaver | Light Spinner (She-Ra)'s A+ Parenting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-27
Updated: 2020-04-27
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:08:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,182
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23868028
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GettingGreyer/pseuds/GettingGreyer
Summary: Shadow Weaver has to be my favorite villain in this show—unless you count Catra, but I consider her more of a dual protagonist than a straight-up villain—she is a really fascinating character and I loved how the second season ofShe-Rafurther expanded our understanding of who she is. Shadow Weaver is a very vindictive and cruel person who desires power and control above all else, but she is also incredibly insecure and is filled with a lot of self-hatred. And it’s these elements of her personality that bleed through into her treatment of her “children.” Adora and Catra were raised by Shadow Weaver, while Micah was her student—and we see that Shadow Weaver manipulates and seeks to control all of them.Post S2 Meta
Relationships: Adora & Catra & Shadow Weaver | Light Spinner (She-Ra), Adora & Shadow Weaver | Light Spinner (She-Ra), Catra & Shadow Weaver | Light Spinner (She-Ra), Micah & Shadow Weaver | Light Spinner (She-Ra)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 15





	Shadow Weaver: "Parenting" and Power

**Author's Note:**

> Another essay written post-S2 on May 17th, 2019.

Shadow Weaver has to be my favorite villain in this show— ~~unless you count Catra, but I consider her more of a dual protagonist than a straight-up villain~~ —she is a really fascinating character and I loved how the second season of _She-Ra_ further expanded our understanding of who she is. Shadow Weaver is a very vindictive and cruel person who desires power and control above all else, but she is also incredibly insecure and is filled with a lot of self-hatred. And it’s these elements of her personality that bleed through into her treatment of her “children.” Adora and Catra were raised by Shadow Weaver, while Micah was her student—and we see that Shadow Weaver manipulates and seeks to control all of them.

### Before Mystacor

So much of Shadow Weaver’s backstory still remains very much untouched and it is clear that whatever life she had before she arrived in Mystacor had a very dramatic affect on her. In the episode “Light Spinner,” Norwyn tells Light Spinner that, “Bringing you into our ranks was a grave mistake,” and earlier in the episode Light Spinner laments that, “They never listen to me! After everything I’ve done, I still haven’t earned their trust.” This very much implies that not only did Light Spinner have a previous life before she arrived in Mystacor, but that she had a past that made the other sorcerer’s hesitant to accept or trust her.

And whatever life she had, was not easy. While Micah calls Light Spinner the “greatest sorcerer to ever walk the halls of Mystacor,” Shadow Weaver later tells Catra that “Nothing was ever easy for me either. I wasn’t born to power like Adora and others. I had to earn my power.” What circumstances she was raised in are still unknown to us, but it’s clear that it gave her many fears of inferiority and insecurity and that she sought power in order to remediate that. And while she gained more and more power, it was never enough to “satisfy” her.

### Mystacor - As Light Spinner

While Light Spinner is a respected sorcerer in many regards, she has a lot of insecurities and “seeks the approval” of Norwyn and others within Mystacor. There’s a moment in the episode when Shadow Weaver tells Micah of her plans and Micah encourages her saying, “If anyone can do it, it’s you.” And Light Spinner has this reaction:

It’s a small moment, but her eyebrows raise and you can tell that she’s genuinely surprised by Micah’s conviction in her—she’s touched by his conviction and a part of her is genuinely pleased to have his approval.

Light Spinner’s insecurity can again be seen in her initial anger towards Micah when he demonstrated a remarkable skill with magic. She yelled at him, accused him of possibly having another teacher and was clearly in part jealous of his power. But once she relaxed, she had this reaction:

She sinisterly whispers to herself that she’ll be “the one who will mold [Micah’s] power.” Because Light Spinner not only seeks power for herself, but she seeks through controlling those who are powerful. From the very beginning of the episode she recognizes Micah’s talent and decides to secretly recruit him. She uses and manipulates him, because in her mind if she can’t have the power than she can control the person who does.

And she is a very cunning manipulator! She knows that Micah is desperate for more tutelage, so she promises to teach him further as long as he helps her and does “exactly as [she] says.”

And it’s through this that she is able to gain the help she needs to complete her spell. And this manipulation is extremely deliberate and consistent throughout her interactions with Micah.

> **Shadow Weaver:** The Guild needs talent like ours more than ever before. Perhaps—No, you’re not ready.  
>  **Micah:** I—I know I have a lot to learn, but I am ready for anything. What is it?

In this scene she preys upon Micah’s immaturity and desire to please, he’s a typical child in the sense that he feels “ready” and doesn’t like to be held back. And Shadow Weaver knows this, that’s why she is the one to say “No, you’re not ready,” as a subtle gentle prodding—having it be Micah who ultimately asks her to tell him about the Horde rather than her straight-up telling him. This is a classic manipulation tactic and one that Shadow Weaver uses in order to gain Micah’s loyalty.

Loyalty which she uses when she ultimately doesn’t receive the other sorcerer’s support and needs to conduct the spell alone, alone except for Micah. And this spell ends poorly. It turns her “into a magical parasite,” which is symbolic of who Shadow Weaver is. She “leeches” and feeds on other people’s power through manipulation. She does this throughout the show. She did it to Micah and she did it to Adora.

Now that’s not to say that Shadow Weaver doesn’t care for Micah. I think, ultimately, a part of her does.

That’s why she spared him and even caressed his face, but I do think a part of that affection is reliant on the power that Micah has and his ability to be a useful tool to Light Spinner. She wants someone by her side, someone she can control but someone that is powerful, and together they will do “great things together.”

### Horde - As Shadow Weaver

Some time after leaving Mystacor Light Spinner renames herself as Shadow Weaver and goes to join the Horde. This may seem strange considering that Light Spinner wanted to fight against the Horde for the sake of Etheria, but I think it's important to recognize that while she was corrupted by the spell there isn’t any implication that it changes or destroys her personalities or morals. As Light Spinner she desired power, and that doesn’t change once she becomes Shadow Weaver.

She simply cannot gain power in Mystacor anymore because of her betrayal, so she has to seek another source of power to “leech” on. And as was previously established, the princesses are no match for the Horde, so they are the most powerful contender for Shadow Weaver to join with. And soon after joining the Horde, Shadow Weaver finds Adora.

Shadow Weaver senses Adora’s power immediately and when first sees her she exclaims, “This one is different. Can’t you feel it? She has power.” Shadow Weaver’s relationship with Adora very much parallels with her relationship with Micah. In fact, in the same episode she uses the same line at two separate occasions, “We will do great things together.” She recognizes the power in Micah and Adora and wants them by her side.

She attempts to alleviate her own insecurities through her control of those she perceives to be more powerful than her, her affection of Micah, and later Adora, can be seen as an extension of her selfish desire for power in an attempt to feel less powerless and insecure. But I do think another element that plays into her affection for Micah and Adora is that Shadow Weaver is lonely.

She specifically says that “ _ **we**_ will do great things _**together**_ ” because she ultimately wants to be accepted. That’s why she initially sought the approval of Norwyn and their distrust her so much, because while she also desires power and strength—she simultaneously craves the approval of those around her. She would later say, “She gave everything to the Horde.” And she did because she not only sought power from the Horde, but she sought the approval from it as well.

And it’s this desire of approval that relates quite heavily to her feelings of self-hatred and disgust that can be seen very prominently in the way she treats Catra.

Catra asked Shadow Weaver, “Why did you treat me the way you did? Why was I never good enough for you?” and Shadow Weaver responds “Because you remind me of myself.”

Shadow Weaver sees herself reflected in Catra and her treatment of Catra is ultimately the result of her own self-hatred. Catra seeks the approval of both Adora, Shadow Weaver, and later Hordak in the very similar ways that Shadow Weaver did and she recognizes this weakness in herself and hates to see it mirrored in front of her. Catra and Shadow Weaver are both plagued by the same insecurities of not being “good enough” or powerful enough, and as a result they tend to seek the approval of those in power and seek power in general.

Shadow Weaver uses this reasoning, this similarities between her and Catra, as a justification for Catra’s abuse and says, “I had to earn my power. Fight for it. Why should it be any different for you?” The way Shadow Weaver frames this statement, she implies that it was ultimately for Catra’s greater good and that she treated her the way she did with Catra’s future in mind.

That’s a lie, a false justification. When examining the way that Shadow Weaver treated Micah and currently treats Adora and Catra, it becomes clear that Shadow Weaver doesn’t view them as fully autonomous beings, but as extensions of herself. Micah and Adora were the powerful tools that she could mold and wield, and by extension since they were “hers”, their power was also hers. And Catra reflects Shadow Weaver in ways that she doesn’t want to confront, her treatment of Catra is a manifestation of her own self hatred and her own attempts to stomp out what she perceives weaknesses of herself.

Because as skilled and talented as Shadow Weaver is, she despises her reliance on others for power. The spell that she conducted at Mystacor, while it gave her great power, it turned her into a magical leech, so that in a sense none of her power is her own. In the very first episode Catra says that Shadow Weaver “is just bitter that she doesn’t have any real power,” and this is a very true assessment, because Shadow Weaver doesn’t have any true power—not anymore.

Shadow Weaver’s quest for power has ultimately led to her losing her own power, her own independence, as she now has to regularly leech power from the Black Garnet in order to be a viable threat and without it she is powerless. In the episode “Light Spinner,” we are given this beautiful parallel where Light Spinner is able to simply use her magic to bring an object to her hand, a simple feat, but it's one that Shadow Weaver is unable to accomplish after her long quest her power.

Shadow Weaver absolutely despises that she has to rely on others for power and she sees so much of herself in Catra—her insecurities and weaknesses, that she hates Catra as well.

And because she understands Catra so well, not only because she sees herself in her, but because she raised her—she is able to manipulate her so easily.

Shadow Weaver yearned for the approval of others, so she knew that more than anything that what Catra wanted was her approval. She strokes Catra’s face and offers her the affection and love that Catra has always desired. She uses Catra and then discards her—because ultimately she cannot gain the power she seeks with Catra or in the Horde anymore. So she escapes and goes to Adora ….

### Rebellion? - With Adora?

Light Spinner couldn’t gain power in Mystacor so she left. Shadow Weaver lost her power in the Horde so she left. And the final scene of the season has her hanging over Adora’s bed, perhaps she seeks to find power there, among Adora, her favorite tool.

We will have to wait to see what happens, but I believe that Shadow Weaver will attempt to join Adora, because she sees Adora as her source of power and belonging, as “hers” and she wants Adora by her side. It’s why she spent so much of season 1 trying to get Adora back in the first place. She put everything into Adora by raising her and she’s hoping to use that to gain more power.

Because ultimately, despite all the hardship it’s brought her, Shadow Weaver is not satisfied with the power she has and she always wants more. Shadow Weaver will likely attempt to convince Adora she has had a change of heart and fled the Horde in hopes of “redeeming” herself and joining the Rebellion.

I think Adora will be initially hesitant to believe Shadow Weaver, but ultimately Adora will want to believe in the good in Shadow Weaver. Because Shadow Weaver raised her and there is genuine affection between them, regardless of how twisted and toxic that affection is, and Shadow Weaver is a master of emotional manipulation; she knows exactly what to say in order to get her way, as evident with her treatment of Catra.

Shadow Weaver is going to continue her pattern of power and control in the next season by attempting to use Adora as a pawn by her side in her goal to do “great things together.”

**Author's Note:**

> I was kind of completely wrong about the Adora thing lol. It wasn't a prediction I felt too strongly in, at least in regards to how much Adora would fall under Shadow Weaver's sway (she had changed and grown so much) but I couldn't imagine what purpose Shadow Weaver would play without manipulating Adora. And then she ends up choosing Glimmer and it all starts to make sense with the puzzle pieces fitting themselves together. Some parts of this meta are a bit outdated, but I'm still pretty proud of the final product.


End file.
